Bowman wants city hall to crack down on absentee councillors

Mayor Brian Bowman raised a successful motion Tuesday that calls for council's governance committee to explore how best to deal with councillors who miss meetings without notice.

Winnipeg city councillors who miss meetings without proper notice and reason could soon see their absence written into the public record.

Mayor Brian Bowman raised a successful motion Tuesday that calls for council’s governance committee to explore how best to achieve that goal. The mayor said he feels “unauthorized absences” should be disclosed, noting a May 3 water and waste committee meeting was actually cancelled after too few councillors showed up.

“It’s disappointing to hear when meetings can’t be held because of lack of attendance by members of council,” said Bowman.

Both Coun. Janice Lukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert) and Coun. Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan) were absent from the meeting in question. That forced it to be cancelled over a failure to meet quorum.

While Lukes had advised her colleagues that she would be absent, the mayor believed Schreyer didn’t. Bowman said he was also told Schreyer missed five Winnipeg Food Council meetings, two of which were cancelled due to a lack of attendance.

Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said council must somehow entice councillors to attend meetings and notify committee chairs in advance when they can’t.

“I think we need to do something to make sure people are showing up for meetings,” said Mayes. “It gets a little tiresome, frankly, when you’re trying to get the work done.”

Schreyer, however, said his absences are being portrayed unfairly. The councillor said he gave notice of every absence prior to each meeting through his executive assistant.

“I think (the water and waste meeting) is the first time in my term as a councillor that I affected quorum,” said Schreyer.”I have, I think, an excellent attendance record at council and standing committee meetings.”

Schreyer said he missed the water and waste meeting to care for his child but rushed to City Hall once he realized the meeting was at risk of cancellation. He said he arrived that day at 10:10 a.m., 10 minutes after the meeting was cancelled.

Schreyer said three of the missed food council meetings were due to conflicts with other ward or council priorities, while another clashed with a family road trip and the final one took place during a family emergency.

The new motion calls for any unauthorized absence to be noted in official meeting minutes, though the mayor noted he’s open to feedback on how best to share those details.

Bowman stressed conflicting official city business, illness, injury, personal matters, family matters and any “extraordinary circumstances” will remain valid reasons for excused absences.

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